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1520686

registered interest
date	11/10/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the (a) feasibility of extending the free school meal scheme to all (i) primary school aged (ii) secondary school aged students whose parents are in receipt of Universal Credit, and (b) the potential impact on educational attainment.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	61126
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2022 answer text <p>The department continues to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions, on support surrounding this issue. The department will continue to keep free school meal (FSM) eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.</p><p>The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with FSM.</p><p>The department has no current plans to conduct our own assessment of the effects of FSM on educational attainment, but we are aware of independent research in this area, such as that from the University of Essex, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, and will note its findings.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 19/10/2022 13:57:55 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1490140

registered interest
date	18/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the viability of automatically enrolling children who are eligible on to the free school meal scheme.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	38667
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2022 answer text <p>The department wants to ensure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility.</p><p>We continue to explore the options and delivery feasibility of introducing auto-enrolment functionality.  However, there are complex data, systems, and legal implications to such a change.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/07/2022 16:28:53 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1490141

registered interest
date	18/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in (a) Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council area and (b) England are (i) eligible for and (ii) in receipt of free school meals.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	38668
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2022 answer text <p>The department publishes the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in the ‘Schools, Pupils and their characteristics’ national statistics publication, which is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>.</p><p>The following link provides the number of pupils eligible for free school meals, and the number of pupils who were eligible and took a free school meal at census day, 20 January 2022, for Barnsley and England: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8c29da0a-7a98-4107-9302-0328ee25a40e" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8c29da0a-7a98-4107-9302-0328ee25a40e</a>.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/07/2022 16:31:44 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1184650

registered interest
date	12/03/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2020 to Question 2542, what support is available to parents of children eligible for free school meals who have medical dietary requirements that the school cannot guarantee to meet.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	28657
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2020 answer text <p>Schools are expected to make reasonable efforts to cater for pupils with particular requirements, including to reflect medical, dietary and cultural needs. In exceptional circumstances, it may be considered reasonable for the school not to make special provision for particular children – for example, where this would be very difficult and costly to achieve. In the rare event that schools are unable to accommodate the dietary requirements of a student, schools are not required to provide additional support.</p><p>Guidance for schools is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools</a> with additional supporting information on allergies at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/allergy-guidance-for-schools" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/allergy-guidance-for-schools</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 17/03/2020 17:37:14 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

992746

registered interest
date	22/10/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the changes to the eligibility criteria for free school meals on the number of families living in poverty.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	182265
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2018 answer text <p>Our new criteria for free school meals eligibility are forecast to increase the number of children benefiting from this vital benefit by 2022, compared to under the previous benefits system. In addition, our transitional protections will mean that all children currently receiving a free meal will continue to do so.</p><p>In February, the government published an updated equality analysis on the criteria following a public consultation. Our overall assessment was that we expect children with a special educational need or disability, pupils attending schools with no religious character, and children from certain ethnic groups to benefit more than others from the estimated increase in the size of the free school meal cohort. These children were identified as more likely to benefit from the new criteria because they are considered more likely to come from households with earnings below the new eligibility threshold. We did not have evidence to suggest there will be any negative impact on children with other protected characteristics.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 25/10/2018 16:26:25 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

823124

registered interest
date	15/01/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December to Question 118739, on Pupil Premium, what steps his Department is taking to make the free school meal registration process more efficient.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	122807
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2018 answer text <p>We want to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility for free school meals (FSM). We know that take up for FSM is already high – but we want to make sure that as many eligible children as possible are claiming their FSM.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to the actions set out in answer to 118739, on 14 December 2017, we provide an electronic Eligibility Checking System. This allows local authorities to check quickly data held by the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and HM Revenue and Customs to establish FSM eligibility.</p><p> </p><p>We have also recently consulted on eligibility for FSM under Universal Credit. In that consultation, we stated our intention to continue to look at what the most effective schools do to encourage FSM registration, and highlight and disseminate best practice from these schools and local authorities for other schools to use. We are currently analysing responses to this consultation and will publish our government response in due course.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 18/01/2018 15:18:11 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis